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Are E-mails Advertising Unlimited TV & Movies Legit?

Posted By : of Data Doctors on December 14, 2007

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I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails advertising Live TV, Movies etc. on your computer for a one time charge. Can you tell me…is it on the up and up?

- Ron

This question was answered on December 14, 2007. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.


Without knowing exactly what service was being offering and the associated website, I can only offer you general advice to help avoid needing data recovery or computer repairs

Live and streaming video on the Internet is booming, so wherever there is a crowd, there is bound to be a con.

Based on your description, there is an immediate red flag that pops up on my computer repair specialist radar: a one time charge.

Legitimate access to copyrighted movies, music and live TV content that won’t result in a need for data recovery or computer repairs is generally made available in one of three ways: free as a promotion or a teaser, on a per use charge (much like buying music from iTunes) or through a monthly subscription.

The one time charge offers are often scams to get you to pay for a software program that is readily available for free and they are often trying to encourage you to use illegal file sharing networks or unknowingly install adware that can result in a need for data recovery or computer repairs.

The exception to this would be paying for the enhanced version of a free program like the Real Player Plus, but buying the enhanced version does not give you access to anything different than the free Real Player version.

If you think about it for a minute, no other legitimate content delivery system is based on a one-time charge (cable TV, newspapers, magazines, etc.); when you stop paying, you stop getting It’s a simple business model to follow!

There are lots of legitimate places on the Internet to watch live or archived streaming content that does not require you to pay for anything and won’t result in costly computer repairs.

If you are a news junkie, you can watch CNN live or choose from their posted archives at www.cnn.com/video.

If you want to tickle your funny bone, checkout www.comedycentral.com for archived videos from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, SouthPark and a host of other popular shows.

Various television stations from around the world offer free live streams that you can access from sites like www.wwitv.com, www.channelchooser.com and www.streamick.com.

All of the major broadcasting companies have video archives of their popular shows on their websites and many even include full episodes that you can watch on demand.

If you are a space junkie, you can watch live video feeds from the Kennedy Space Center at http://science.ksc.nasa.gov and from NASA at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv

You can also find lots of video content via the various search engines such as http://video.google.com, www.live.com and www.ask.com/video

Technology junkies may want to checkout Digital Life TV at http://dl.tv, Cnet’s live and archived tech videos at www.cnettv.com and gamers will want to bookmark www.g4tv.com

Be very careful of sites that seem to be able to provide you with just about everything under the sun (television, movies, music, etc.) from what they claim to be all the major broadcast companies and movie studios.

These sites are generally setup as adware sites that are just trying to trick you into installing something sneaky onto your computer If you have never heard of a site, do some research via a search engine before you start using any of the content or video tools from that site to help avoid needing computer repair or data recovery services.

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Posted by of Data Doctors on December 14, 2007

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